Plates for sale

[TheDagLab]

So this winter I’m catching up on stocking my plate supply and will take orders from anyone who would like to give my plates a try. They are 22ga virgin copper that I polish and electroplate myself, then put on a nice galvanized sky-blue topcoat of fresh silver. All that’s needed is some rouge polishing and buffing. These take a long time to make so I may need at least a week for each order.I have 5 quarter plates vacuum sealed and ready to go.1/6 – $25 each1/4 – $35 each1/2 – $50 eachMinimum order of 5 plates. $10 for shipping Priority Mail Flat Rate in US.Shoot me an email if your interested… info@thedaglab.com

[unrealalex]

How thick your silver layer is? Do you ship internationally?

[TheDagLab]

I don’t have a way to determine the thickness but it’s a good amount. I can take a gilded plate and lightly polish it with a metal compound to take the image off and re-rouge it without going through to the copper. Most of the time twice.

Do you or anyone else know of a way to measure it?

I’ll ship internationally, postage will go up a little depending on the location.

[jdanforth]

TheDagLab wrote:Do you or anyone else know of a way to measure it?

My local silver-plater uses some sort of x-ray machine on my plates. I get a printout that shows the silver thickness on each of a dozen x-ray points. Very handy.

Can you make 4×5" plates?

[TheDagLab]

Ummmm, an x-ray machine would be great. I wonder were I could find a used one?

I can make 4×5. Any size up to full plate.

[photolytic]

Yes XRF machines are too expensive. However you can weigh the plate before and after the plating.
A mil of silver (25 microns) on a whole plate weighs 9.5 grams. An easy assay for a cheap digital balance.
If you stop out the back of the plate with platers tape or lacquer you can restrict the plating to the front only.
Similarly a mil of silver on a quarter plate weighs 2.4 grams.
You can do the math from there.

This will give you the average silver thickness. Due to what the platers call the "dog bone" effect the silver is always thickest on the edges of the plate and thinner near the center. Unfortunately that is where you really want it so it, so it’s best to apply a little more silver if you intend to reuse the plate
That blue overcoat is only 2 microns thick so it will be removed by all but the lightest rouge buffing and will have no effect on reuse of the plate.

[jdanforth]

Great points! I forgot to mention the dog-bone pattern. My plater uses the XRF to determine the thickness in the center mainly to make sure that I get the half mil that I asked for. The corners often have upwards of .75 or even 1 mil on them.

[CasedImage]

Great galvanising on the plates Eric, my question is, how much polishing do you give the plate post galvanising – should all tracesof the milky blue be gone and its a mirror with deep blacks again?

Also how are your plates cut to size – guilllotine or metal shear? ( I have a concern about the slight warping that the guillotine imparts on my current plates). If I order your plates do you think the plate sizes can be accurate to within 1/32 of an inch? Oversize plates play havoc with my case interiors as your saw at Dag soc.

www.CasedImage.com

[TheDagLab]

I should have included more information on my initial post. My system of plating that I’ve been using for a year and a half puts on a good amount of silver; sorry I can’t be more exact about the amount. One thing I have learned is it’s not the amount of silver that makes a great plate but the quality and application of the silver. Because of the way the silver is applied it does not create a dog-bone effect (one of the advantages of plating yourself). Also yes the top coat is very thin, one of the reasons for using it, and buffs off on the first use. These plates are not intended for testing and reusing many times but instead plates for those who are ready for that ‘one great shot’.

Alan, they only need minimal buffing, the top coat is easily buffed and should return to a deep black mirror surface. The plates are cut from the factory and surprisingly very accurate. I’ve only had 3 out of about 100 half plates that were a little oversized and one full plate.

I’m not going to be selling anymore because I just don’t have the time and I’m using up my stock already. So this post doesn’t really matter but I wanted to answer these questions.

[Author]

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